Bethesda reveals Sony won't approve Fallout 4 or Skyrim mods on PS4

After months of anticipation, Bethesda has announced that its massively popular action-RPG Fallout 4 and the upcoming The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Special Edition will not receive mod support on PS4. In an update on its website on 9 September, the company said the disappointing decision was made by Sony who informed them that it will not approve user mods in "the way they should work."

"After months of discussion with Sony, we regret to say that while we have long been ready to offer mod support on PlayStation 4, Sony has informed us they will not approve user mods the way they should work: where users can do anything they want for either Fallout 4 or Skyrim Special Edition," Bethesda wrote in an update on its website.

"Like you, we are disappointed by Sony's decision given the considerable time and effort we have put into this project, and the amount of time our fans have waited for mod support to arrive. We consider this an important initiative and we hope to find other ways user mods can be available for our PlayStation audience."

Earlier this year, Bethesda announced it would introduce mod support to both Xbox One and PS4 versions of the games. While Xbox One players have continued to churn out some impressive custom creations for months after it went live in May, PS4 players were forced to wait for the feature to hit the console. Fallout 4's PC version has also featured mod support since spring.

When PS4 mods were made available for Fallout 4 in a private beta in June, they did suffer from several serious issues such as sound problems, mod storage limit as well as memory and performance issues that prompted another delay.

Weeks after the delay announcement, Bethesda vice president of marketing and PR Pete Hines took to Twitter in July to update frustrated PS4 fans about the delay, hinting that Sony was to blame for the hold up.

In June, Bethesda's official Twitter account announced that the PS4 Mods beta for Fallout 4 has been delayed. Last week, a tweet from Fallout's social media account stated that the previously promised mod support was "still under evaluation."

Both the Fallout and Elder Scrolls franchises sport thriving modding communities that have spawned a wildly creative and diverse range of mods and upgrades in the past.

"We consider this an important initiative and we hope to find other ways user mods can be available for our PlayStation audience," Bethesda wrote. "However, until Sony will allow us to offer proper mod support for PS4, that content for Fallout 4 and Skyrim on PlayStation 4 will not be available. We will provide an update if and when this situation changes."

Following the lacklustre reaction to Sony's PlayStation 4 Pro, rival Microsoft has chosen to capitalise on the opportunity by publishing a series of tweets showing off the Xbox One's mod support.

For now, custom mods for Fallout 4 and the upcoming Skyrim remaster, which is slated to launch on 28 October, will be Xbox One and PC exclusive.